Rail-tie.



W. CHURCHILL & M. L. ONEIL.

RAIL TIE.

APPLICATION FILED APB-.19, 1909.

941 ,9 1 3. Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

lUNlTlill SJTTE snipe.

RAIL-TIE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, l/VILLIAM CHURCHILL and ldUn'r L. ONniri, citizensof the United States, residing at Janesville, in the county of Rock andState of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Rail-Ties, of which the following is a specification.

()ur invention relates to railroad rail ties and has for its object theprovision of a tie consisting of an inverted channeled bar having railclamps at its ends comprising plates provided with hooks to engage therail bases and upright ends that engage holes in inverted "Ll-shapedclamping members that are removably secured to the tie. A block of woodor other fibrous material is placed under the clamping plates and heldin posi tion by the Ushaped clamping members, and serves as cushion totake oif the ar of the passing train.

Our invention will be described in detail hereinafter and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of ourimproved tie showing the rail in position at one end and the clamp atthe other end in position to receive the rail, Fig. 2, a cross sectionof the tie, Fig. 3, a side view of one of the end fragments of the tie,Fig. 4, a detail view of one of the clamping plates, and Fig. 5, adetail view of one of the clamping members.

In the drawings similar reference characters indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

Our improved tie consists of an invert-ed channeled beam or bar 1 havingsloping sides and ends 2 as shown.

The rail clamps at the ends of the tie consist of plates 3 having one oftheir ends cut away as shown at i and turned up to form a hook 5 toengage the base of rail A. Each of the plates 3 has its ends turnedupwardly to form tongues 6 and 7 that engage a hole 8 and slot 9respectively in the top of inverted U-shaped clamping members 10. Eachclamping member 10 is provided with tongues 11 that engage slots 12 inthe top of the tie and is held in position by means of a bolt 13 mountedin keyhole slot 14: in the top of the tie, the head of the bolt beingadapted to be inserted through the larger end of the slot 14: and thestem thereof provided with a rectangular shoulder 15 less in thicknessthan the threaded portion that engages the Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed April 19, 1909.

Patent ed Nov. 3'11, 19ml Serial No. 490,892.

smaller end of the slot 14: and holds the bolt in position while theclamping member 10 is being placed in position.

16 indicates a block of wood or other fibrous material under each plate3 that acts as a cushion to absorb the jar of passing trains, said blockbeing held in position by having its ends engaging the clamping members10.

As shown in the drawings the tongue 6 on the narrow end of the plate 3is round to fit the circular hole 8 in the clamping member so that inlaying the ails one end of each pair of )lates 3 is secured in aositionand i l a the plate having its end 6 secured in hole 8 is swung to oneside as shown in Fig. 1 so that the rail A may be placed in positionwith its base resting against the hook 5 on the other plate, the plateswung to one side is then moved under the rail base so that the plates 3are parallel and contiguous to one another when the two hooks 5 willengage the base of the rail. The other clamping member 10 is then placedin position so that the holes 8 and 9 therein engage the tongues 6 and Ton the free ends of the plates 3 and secured by means of bolt 13.

It will be apparent that the cut away por tion l serves not only tosupply the material for the hook 5 but also allows the swinging of theplate to one side in securing the rail in position, as described above,so that the rail may be fastened from either side as desired.

As is well known the treads of railway rails wear off on the insidecaused by the grinding of the wheel flanges on trains, and to counteractthis and provide for moving the rails nearer to the center of the tieafter they have been worn suiiiciently to require it we construct one ofeach pair of clamping members 10 with the hole 8 and slot 9 far therfrom the edge of the member than the other. In the drawings we haveshown the clamps in the position they are placed when the rails arefirst laid, 2'. c. wit-h the members 10 having the hole and slotfarthest from the edge on the outside of the rails. After the rails havebecome worn as stated above the clamping members in each pair arereversed so that the plates 3 are moved toward the middle of the tie adistance equal to the difference between the distance of the slots andholes from the inner edges of the members 10. It will be also apparentthat the gage of the rails may be gradually ad justed by moving one railafter the rails have been laid for some time and then the other later.

Having thus described our invention what We claim is 1. In a rail tie,elongated clamping plates arranged side by side in pairs longitudinallyof the tie and having hooks thereon and up wardly extending tongues, andclamping members secured to the tie and engaging the tongues.

2. In a rail tie, clamping plates having cut away portions bent to formhooks and upwardly extending tongues on their ends, and clamping memberssecured to the tie and engaging the tongues on the plates, the cut awayportions permitting the plates to be swung to one side in fastening therails.

3. In a rail tie, clamping plates having hooks thereon and upwardlyextending tongues, and inverted U-shaped clamping members having holesto receive said tongues and secured to the tie.

4. In a rail tie, clamping plates having bers secured to the tie andengaging the tongues on the plates, and a cushion of fibrous materialbetween the tie and plates and held in position by the clamping members.

6. In a rail tie, clamping plates having hooks thereon and upwardlyextending tongues, inverted U-shaped clamping members having holes toreceive said tongues, tongues extending from said clamping members, thetie provided with slots to receive the tongues on the clamping members,a cushion of fibrous material between the tie and plates and having itsends engaged by the clamping members, and means secured to the tie tohold the clamping members in position.

7. In a rail tie, clamping plates having cut away portions bent to formhooks and upwardly extending tongues on their ends. U-shaped clampingmembers having holes to receive said tongues, tongues extending fromsaid clamping members, the tie provided with slots to receive thetongues on the clamping members, a cushion of fibrous material betweenthe tie and plates andhaving its ends engaged by the clamping members,and bolts secured to the tie and engaging said clamping member Intestimony whereof we hereto aflix our signatures in the presence of twowitnesses.

IVILLIAH CHURCHILL. MURT L. ONEIL. Witnesses HENRY F. CARPENTER, EDWINF. CARPENTER.

